A/N: The chapter ahead is raw, which means not been proofread yet nor edited.
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"The Creator doted on the Warlocks, but the Deities favored the Axeores more, while the people loved the Vernignacs. Before, Copy Magic is literally just 'copying'. Vernignacs only multiply what their ability could multiply. They could never 'copy' another ability to begin with. But thanks to Maxism's efforts, Clastigaufeas learned something new about her Bloodline, but still couldn't copy another," Voltage Xirquit.
"Are the Axeores behind all of this? Just a hunch. We've seen their symbol on Moon's children's door. Does it mean she married the Crown Prince?" Lord Thirdy gasped in exaggeration.
They felt goosebumps crawl under their skin.
A Warlock and Axeore together?
World domination.
"But the question is, what is their reason for doing this? Jealousy? But their empire is as great as Warlock Empire. I can't think of a reason of why they would do this. They're so secluded and secretive." Franchetti Xerene thinks so.
"Then, we can leave this matter for another time. For now, let's create a web of findings. Let's chunk it until we reach the middle and find out the truth."
They all agreed to Watts's idea and helped him create a web on the table, writing from where they began to now. It took them time. After doing the web, they rested for a couple of minutes and went on.
"Let's talk about Moon's children. We already have their names: Zodiac, Maximilien, Valy, Ivy, and Ambry," Watts started again and wrote the children's name on the board. It reflected on the table.
"The 'Ambry' one must be the Crown Prince of Axeore's son. I mean, his name is 'Ambrose', right? Moon must have loved putting names together like her parents. If we chunk her name, they will just be her parents' long names put together," Lord Thirdy shared and he's so certain about it.
"Don't talk of his name so lightly. We may never know if it's truly just us in this space," his father warned him. Better safe than never.
King Liorei began tracing the symbols from the door drawn by Watts to the names.
"Zodiac for House Xirquit's symbol. Ambry for Axeore Empire. Maximilien for Vernignac Empire. We've seen Valy, so I'll assume he's from this black symbol. That leaves the Ivy child...for Devereux Empire."
Watts let out a shaky breath.
"A Prince indeed survived the purge. Ivy is the proof of that. If we will look into Devereux Empire's family tree, then maybe we will find Ivy's father."
Watts stood straight and palmed his face. He collected himself.
"Please bring the family register of Devereux Empire here, Wattroid."
"Already here!" Wattroid happily opened his belly apart and took the book hidden inside. Their jaws dropped from the shocking sight.
"There's so many names here with 'Iv-'. Which one is the one who survived the purge? Is it you, Ivan? Or Ivo? Maybe Ivaren? Speak now, Ivarion!" The Lord played while pointing at the names.
Suddenly, they felt their instincts tingled from the last name he mentioned.
"Ivarion Devereux," they read, and pointed their fingers about how he was described, but it only stated that he's a Prince and nothing more.
"What? We know he's a Prince, but what else!?" They are frustrated and disappointed at that.
"How mysterious. Let's see Sacremore's family tree. His name is Dryllivan if I remembered it right," Franchetti Xerene moved on and gave Wattroid a nod.
They flipped the pages, looking for the name 'Dryllivan', until they found it.
"Thirty years of age. Master of the sword, eighth in line, twin brother of Her Imperial Princess, Dryfaeia, nineth in line. Meek and secluded. He prefers his own company, often seen in the training grounds. Was favored by the Emperor his grandfather, and is to be wed to his Aunt, the Crown Princess," the woman read every line.
"No wonder he took the role as Sun's knight. He's a swordmaster. I heard he's good that's why the Empress appointed him to be Sun's knight."
"Perfect infiltration. But is Absorption Bloodline something great? Do we have preserved texts about how their Bloodline works?" Emperor-to-be Claxiord.
"None. They kept it only to themselves. We can't be so sure if it's just some lousy magic. There are no texts about witnesses either. There are some but purely myths," King Liorei.
Watts crossed his arms and think.
"Then, does it mean we'll be in the disadvantage here if we were to fight that Sacremorean bastard?" Prince Maxigaufeas hissed.
Duke Paris shook his head and straightened his back before stretching his neck side by side.
"Bet one of us can take him down if we were to take him seriously. But since we have no idea about how their Bloodline works, then it will be dangerous to fight if we're blind. We should know his Bloodline first."
They added the information they gathered in the web.
"Next, let's talk about the past. About our generation's timeline. Our first and the adults' fourth."
Watts breathes deeply and showed the sketches of Moon's children on the table.
"This is my son, Zodiac Astrophel Nikolai Xirquit-Warlock. This Maximilien Vernignac-Warlock. And this black thing is Valy. We didn't get to see the other two, so let's begin with them."
They went back to their seats.
"What do you think happened before? Anything that makes sense, because actually, I can't think of anything because her family is almost perfect to begin with."
Prince Maxigaufeas raised his hand, "She's so beautiful that the Deities wanted her? But her psychotic father refused them, so the Deities punished them and made their lives miserable?"
Lord Thirdy laughed at his guess.
"Before that, let's wonder about the change in her appearance. It's like she became a fallen angel. Does her appearance now has something to do with what happened before?" King Liorei wondered as he stare at Moon's different appearances on the table.
That made them wonder, too.
"Curse," Emperor-to-be Claxiord whispered and they all looked at him, "She must be cursed. Otherwise, what will be the reason she was hated if not cursed?"
"What would be the STRONGEST reason why she was hated by everyone? That's the question. She's their first daughter, the Third Lady of Heart. None of us loved the girl, said her son. Why?" Spike bit the nail of his thumb and stared deeper into Moon's eyes.
"Siofra carried the Princess of this timeline for 21 years. She knows something. What if in that 21 years, the Princess is already alive in her womb, but her soul is still in her first timeline? That said, Moon must have died back then at the age of 21. And when she died, that's when Siofra birthed her, because her soul is already in her new body. Siofra knows something about her reincarnation. She would've let us do cesarean on her otherwise. She was waiting for her daughter," Franchetti Xerene asserted, so sure about what she came up in her head.
"The Empress must have died back then."
They got goosebumps because of Watts said.
"Her condition has never been great since the Armageddon War. Her broken Core Essence is taking its time to heal. Then she conceived the Princess. She must've died during or after labor. That must be why everyone hated her. The Princess took the life of their sister, daughter, mother, and wife. Maybe it broke everyone's heart that they couldn't accept the Princess yet. The Empress died for her. So, we hated her."
Their throats went dry.
King Liorei laid back, crossing his arms.
"She was cursed."
He closed his eyes, remembering the moment when her tongue often slips.
"When she was younger, she would always tell me how she feel so free, how she could see me as me and not as a Veil, that she could play outside without the flowers withering and dying. Maybe it was her curse that killed Siofra and not childbirth. She's cursed, that's why everybody avoided and hated her at the same time. One of her sons mentioned it, too. About her curses. Not only one, but many."
He immediately wiped the tear that escaped from his eye.
"That must be why her sons wanted to avenge her. That must be why. We could only imagine what she went through. We abandoned...a little girl alone."
Voltage Xirquit pressed his elbows against the table and hid his face on his palm. Just... Thinking what they might have done to her pains him. They hated a little girl. They abandoned her. She already can't get near to them and they even avoided her. Oh, it truly hurts his heart.
"I wonder if I was a good husband to her..." Watts asked out of the blue as he run his fingers on their son's portrait.
"I must be a bad father. I killed our first baby. Why did I do that? I want to ask myself. Why did you do that?"
Then, he looked back. His grieving eyes landed on Maxigaufeas.
"Why did you do that? To your son. What did we do that they loathe us so much?"
Franchetti Xerene stand up and went to comfort his son.
"You must've been a good husband and a good father. Maybe, there was a misunderstanding between you two. Maybe she lost your baby because of that misunderstanding. If not, then Baby Zoddy wouldn't be so happy when he met you. You went with the light, right? Baby Zoddy told us. You went to Heaven. You're a good boy."
Watts Xirquit hugged his mother and did not cry.
Prince Maxigaufeas hissed and scratched his head, "Don't ask me a question that's impossible to answer. I have no idea...what happened to us. I don't even know why I did that to that kid."
Duke Paris clapped his hands and changed the conversation, "Why don't we talk about other things but that? It makes our atmosphere so awkward. What about Valy? Who do you think is his father? If he's a Prince, too, then he's from...?" He looked at each of the and shrugged.
Voltage Xirquit lean back and crossed his arms.
"I'm not familiar with his symbol. I can't tell which family he belongs. I don't know why the child look like that. It's like... He looks like..." He gulped, he couldn't bring himself to say it.
So, Elektra helped him.
"A Veil."
"Zoddy likes him, though. And I find him cute." Spike.
Elektra grimaced, "It's black. It was ugly and creepy as fuck. It looks like a freaking demon!"
"Don't discriminate! What if it's just a disguise? No way the child looked like that for real! Just look at Moon, she's both golden and gray! She's still beautiful!?"
Elektra rolled her eyes on him and frowned. She glared at Gerson Liorei, murdering him in her mind.
Duke Paris chuckled and zoomed Moon's portraits.
"Man, she's so unreal. Imagine being this gorgeous. She's made to pull every man on Earth---I mean, Cosmo-Vale. Bet the female Deities got jealous of her. Or the male Deities tried courting her. I'd go nuts."
Voltage Xirquit kicked his leg under the table. Everyone's looking at the Duke with different expression on their faces. It's just so absurd. To say that within Watts's area, he sure have some guts to.
"I-I mean, it's understandable to go nuts over a beauty like that!? I understand you, W-Watts. H-Hahaha. The Princess is all yours!"
Prince Maxigaufeas hissed and placed his chin on his palm. Then, he looked down on the Princess's golden image. He admit, she's all the words that can be used to describe beauty. She's a goddess. A Deity.
"So what if she's pretty? If her personality is shit, I won't be pulled," he mumbled, irritated the more he stare at her face. Her eyes are so inviting; they're speaking to him, enchanting him.
"Sus! Your father said the same thing every time but he invited us on his wedding anyway. If a woman's personality is shit, tame her. Otherwise, she will tame you," Duke Paris lessoned and tapped the Prince's back.
Prince Maxigaufeas only scrunched his nose and removed the Princess's portraits in front of him. His stares landed on Watts who's already staring at him.
"Don't look at me like that. Your girl is yours. I have mine. Bro code, brother. Bro code. Are we really going to break up just because of a girl?"
Watts Xirquit finally looked away.
"No. It's just that... I'm just wondering how I got out of the picture before. Before you, there was Valy's father. And I'm not a Prince. Her men are all Princes."
He turned around, looking down.
"I'm just...this. I'm not a Prince."
"Don't say that!" They yelled at him, startling him.
"You're not just 'that'! You're more than 'that'! Yes, I'm a Prince, but I can't do things you can, and you can't do things I can do! Why do you see yourself so small and less? You're great. So great that it's becoming overwhelming."
Prince Maxigaufeas is annoyed. He couldn't believe what he's hearing from his brother. He hates that he sees himself that way, when in fact, he's the one feeling inferior to him the higher he soar.
"You don't need a title to deserve the Princess, Watts. Your name alone is enough. Cheer up. Zoddy is so proud of you, remember?"
King Liorei smiled and bumped his arm with his fist lightly.
"Yeah! Bet the whole world was jealous when our Zoddy was born! You can't find another Prince like that! Maxi is not even as cute as him when he's younger!"
"Excuse me, Ate!? That's so offensive!? I'm my father's pride and joy!"
His brother palmed his face. It's so cringe to hear him say that.
"That's enough. We have much more important matters to talk about than that," the Emperor-to-be sighed.
Prince Maxigaufeas pouted.
"Let's talk about the Deity, then."